Home / Question bank

Describe an interesting conversation you had with an old person.

This test has appeared in 3 seasons · 2 reported by test takers

  • Jan–Apr/2025
  • May–Aug/2024
  • Jan–Apr/2024

Reported by test takers Forecast only

Take this test with the AI examiner

Part 1

The examiner asks about you and two familiar topics. About 4–5 minutes.

Your home town

  1. Where is your home town? (Tell me more about that.)
  2. What do you like most about it? (Tell me more about that.)
  3. Has it changed much since you were a child? (Why is that?)
  4. Would you like to live there in the future? (Why is that?)

Holidays

  1. How often do you go on holiday? (Tell me more about that.)
  2. Where did you go on your last holiday? (Tell me more about that.)
  3. What did your family usually do on holidays when you were a child? (Tell me more about that.)
  4. Do you prefer relaxing holidays or active holidays? (Why is that?)

Sharing

  1. Do you like sharing things with other people? (Why is that?)
  2. What kind of things do you share with your friends? (Tell me more about that.)
  3. Did your parents teach you to share when you were young? (Why is that?)
  4. Do you think it is important for children to learn to share? (Why is that?)

Part 2

One minute to prepare, then speak for one to two minutes.

Describe an interesting conversation you had with an old person.

You should say:

  • who the person was
  • when and where you talked
  • what you talked about

and explain why you found the conversation interesting.

Follow-up question after your talk: Do you often talk with older people? / What did you learn from that conversation?

Part 3

A broader, more abstract discussion of the Part 2 topic. About 4–5 minutes.

older and younger generations

  1. Can you explain why young and old people sometimes find it hard to understand each other?
  2. In general, how much contact do young people in your country have with older people?
  3. What could be done about the lack of contact between younger and older people?

older people in society

  1. Can you explain why the experience of older workers is valuable to a company?
  2. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of asking everyone to retire at a fixed age?
  3. Can you speculate on how the role of older people will change as populations grow older?

Test titles follow test-taker reports and each season's forecasts — IELTS does not publish its papers. "Reported" means someone reported meeting this topic in a dated test. The questions are written by us in the format of the real test.